Hilliard Davidson 37, Huber Heights Wayne 7: Wildcats stand tall

Sunday

Nov 24, 2013 at 12:01 AMNov 24, 2013 at 12:08 PM

The first words coach Brian White spoke after Hilliard Davidson's 37-7 victory over Huber Heights Wayne in a Division I playoff game last night were music to his players' ears. "I hope you guys don't have any plans for Thanksgiving weekend," he said to a raucous ovation. The Wildcats, who have played in eight regional championship games in the past nine seasons, will face Cincinnati Moeller (13-0) for the South region title.

Steve Blackledge, The Columbus Dispatch

The first words coach Brian White spoke after Hilliard Davidson’s 37-7 victory over Huber Heights Wayne in a Division I playoff game last night were music to his players’ ears.

"I hope you guys don’t have any plans for Thanksgiving weekend,” he said to a raucous ovation.

The Wildcats, who have played in eight regional championship games in the past nine seasons, have become accustomed to practicing into December. Davidson (13-0) will face Cincinnati Moeller (13-0) for the South region title at 7 p.m. Saturday, presumably at Welcome Stadium in Dayton.

After quarterback D’Mitrik Trice guided Wayne 68 yards on an impressive opening drive for a 7-0 lead, a long, bitterly cold night appeared in store for Davidson. But after the Wildcats halted a second Wayne drive and the teams changed sides of the field at the end of the first quarter, the momentum shifted quickly and decisively.

On second down, quarterback Nick Iske threw a deep pass toward the sideline. The throw, while badly underthrown, forced a Wayne defender to slip. Joe Bernard came back for the catch near midfield, then zigzagged across the field for a 67-yard gain to the 4.

“It was just an instinctive thing,” Bernard said of his fifth catch this season. “We work on those plays in practice in case the situation presents itself. That was definitely the biggest catch of my life, and it came at the right moment.”

Iske plunged in from a yard out to tie the score at 7.

Another defensive stop gave the Wildcats excellent field position. It took five plays for Phillipie Motley to score on a 16-yard option pitch.

As halftime expired, Jack Johns kicked a 31-yard field goal to make it 17-7.

“The wind was a big factor, and once we got it on our side, we tilted the field, righted the ship and started playing our kind of football,” White said. “We got the running game going, our offensive line performed much better this week, and we made the proper adjustments on defense so we could put some pressure on the quarterback.”

Bernard intercepted Trice on the opening drive of the third quarter. That set up a vintage 17-play, 69-yard Davidson drive that chewed up 8:36. D.D. Clark capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Wayne fumbled on the next play, and Davidson embarked on another long scoring drive. Markus Bailey scored his first of two touchdowns to seal the deal for the top-seeded Wildcats. He also intercepted Trice twice.

“After their first drive, our defensive coaches changed up our coverages and our defensive linemen, especially (Alex) Backenstoe, really made things difficult on the quarterback,” Bailey said. “We might not have had that many sacks, but he wasn’t getting much time to throw at all.”

Clark finished with 126 yards on 27 carries to pace the Wildcats, who were getting a solid push up front. In the second half, the Wildcats were getting 5 and 6 yards a carry at will.

Trice, who came in with 36 touchdown passes and just seven interceptions, was intercepted three times.

“Some of the people we talked to thought we could be pretty successful getting some pressure on them,” White said, “and it helps when you’ve got somebody like Backenstoe teeing off. He’s just a man out there.”

sblackledge@dispatch.com

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